


Happily Ever Aftermath

by Wise_Old_Owl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Keith does not like fairy tales, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), klance, snarky pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12237939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wise_Old_Owl/pseuds/Wise_Old_Owl
Summary: Fairy tales are synonymous with romance and happy endings. So, naturally, Lance always thought it would be awesome to play the prince that rescues the princess.....until he's forced to rescue a princess who doesn't like playing by the rules.Or the time the paladins got trapped inside fairy tales and Keith kept being cast as the reluctant princess.





	Happily Ever Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting one of my stories, but I just adore Lance and Keith so much that I decided to take the risk. Hope you like it. :)

There was a small ache in Lance’s temples, beating in time with his pulse. Something was digging into his back and a light breeze ghosted over his face.

“Urgh!” he groaned, eyes blinking open to reveal an expanse of blue sky overhead.

Wait! Sky?

Jerking to a sitting position, Lance glanced around to find himself in a clearing, surrounded by trees. Where the heck was he? And how did he get here?

Then he caught sight of his clothes and squawked. Okay, better question; what the hell was he _wearing?_

Lance gaped at the soft breeches his legs were clad in, brown boots coming up to his knees. A blue tunic embroidered with gold and matching cloak enveloped his torso, while the belt slung low around his hips had a sword tucked into it.

Becoming aware of something on his head, Lance reached up to find a soft hat with an actual goddam feather sticking out of it! With a howl of outrage, he grabbed the offensive item and flung it to the ground.

“Okay, what the hell!” he shouted, getting to his feet. “Why am I dressed like a Disney movie reject?!”

“Lance?”

He whirled to find Hunk emerging from between a pair of trees. His friend was also wearing breeches, riding boots and a tunic, although his tunic was yellow and far plainer than Lance’s.

“What are you wearing?” they both asked at the same time. 

Hunk scratched his head. “Okay. So, I’m guessing neither of us has a clue what’s going on.”

“I don’t even know how I got here. Do you?”

Hunk shook his head. “The last thing I remember was answering a distress call on some weird planet. But this place doesn’t look like there.”

“It really doesn’t,” said Lance, now remembering the rocky wasteland they had landed the lions on. “Is that the last thing you remember?”

“Yeah. Next thing I know, I’m waking up here. What about you?”

“Same thing.”

“Then the others might be around here somewhere. We’d better look for them.”

“How?” demanded Lance. “We don’t even know where _we_ are!”

“There’s a castle that way,” said Hunk, pointing behind Lance. “Maybe someone can give us information about where we are.”

“How do you know there’s a castle? Wait! Is it our castle?”

Hunk shook his head. “Definitely not ours. It’s got all these turrets, kind of like a fairy tale castle. I could see them over the trees ‘cause I woke up on kind of a hill.” 

“A fairy tale castle? Hey, maybe it has a princess!” 

“Focus, Lance, we need to find the others.”

“Yes, but if a beautiful princess needs rescuing, we can’t ignore her! We have a duty to the paladin code, remember?”

Hunk sighed. “Fine.”

They set off for the castle Hunk had seen. Lance pulled at his cloak. “You think the others are in these weird clothes?”

“I don’t know, maybe? Oh, man! You think somebody actually dressed us?!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Relax, Hunk. I’m pretty sure nobody dressed us. It’s probably some kind of magic spell.”

Hunk raised a sceptical eyebrow. “A magic spell, Lance, really?”

“We live in a flying castle with a ten-thousand-year-old alien princess and we pilot five magical lions, and you’re having trouble with the concept of a magic spell?”

“Good point.”

They continued in the direction Hunk had indicated. “So, how far is this castle?” Lance asked.

“Not far, maybe ten min– eep!” Hunk clutched at Lance as something in the bushes to their left clanked loudly, twigs cracking in a way that meant something large had stepped on them.

Desperately missing his bayard, Lance reached for the sword at his waist. Not that he’d ever admit it, but he wished Keith was here. At least he knew how to _use_ a sword. Then a man in a suit of black armour – an actual freaking knight! – stepped through the bushes and Hunk dived behind Lance. 

“Don’t come any closer,” Lance warned, hoping he sounded more dangerous than he felt.

“Lance? Hunk?” The knight reached up to pull back his visor, revealing a familiar face.

“Shiro?” gasped Lance.

“Shiro!” cried Hunk happily. “Oh my gosh! OMG! I have literally never been so happy to see anyone in my life! _Please_ tell me you have a way out of here?”

“Sorry, Hunk,” their leader replied. “I don’t even know where here is.”

“But maybe we can start making some guesses now that we’ve found you two,” came another voice from behind Shiro. Pidge stepped out of the bushes. She was dressed like Hunk, except her tunic was green instead of yellow. “Is your last memory of landing the lions on some rock planet?”

“Yeah,” answered Lance. “And did you guys wake up here dressed like that?”

Pidge grimaced. “Unfortunately.” 

“Is Keith with you?” Shiro asked, brows crinkling beneath the helmet.

Lance shook his head, heart thumping to realize their red paladin was still missing. Then he jerked irritably. He wasn’t worried about him; Keith could take care of himself.

Pidge tilted her head. “Were you both heading for the castle?”

“You saw it too?” said Hunk.

Pidge nodded. “And I’m guessing that wherever’s going on, we’ll get our answers there.”

“Why?” asked Lance.

“Because this is obviously some kind of quest,” replied Pidge. “Look at us: Shiro is a knight and I’m his squire, while you’re some kind of nobleman and Hunk is your squire.”

“Some kind of nobleman?” repeated Lance. “Pidge, I am clearly a prince.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Point is, you’re both obviously on a quest, and since we all woke up near that castle, it must be involved.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “Then let’s get to the castle and get some answers.” 

They set off, Shiro’s armour clanking and rattling with every movement. 

“I hope this quest doesn’t involve stealth,” said Lance, casting a glance at Shiro, “or you are so screwed.”

“I know, but I can’t take the armour off.”

“Seriously?” said Lance, eyes widening.

Shiro nodded. “I don’t know how medieval knights got in and out of these things for battle. I feel like I’ve been welded into this.”

Lance gave a sympathetic shudder. Suddenly, his own ensemble didn’t seem so bad.

“Uh, guys? I think we’re here,” said Hunk, stopping and pointing up. 

Lance’s gaze followed Hunk’s finger and his jaw dropped.

A massive castle loomed over them. They hadn’t seen it until they were practically on top of it because it was so ensnared by an enormous forest of thorns, turrets peering just above the brambles. The castle was so thickly surrounded that getting in would be difficult, but Lance was more bothered by how familiar it all looked. He was almost certain he’d seen this castle before…

“Well, this is interesting,” Pidge broke the shocked silence. “Does anyone know how we got inside a fairy tale?”

Holy crap! _Now_ Lance knew where he’d seen this castle before – inside a book his Abuela used to read to him as a child! But that meant… He rounded on Pidge in panic. “This is not interesting! This is bad. This is very, very bad!”

Pidge looked at him. “I thought you of all people would relish the idea of waking a princess with a kiss.”

“It’s not about the princess, it’s about the dragon!” Lance cried.

Pidge raised an unimpressed eyebrow, while Hunk shrieked, “ _Dragon?!_ ”

“Yes, dragon!” said Lance, gesticulating wildly. “Sleeping Beauty is usually guarded by a dragon and since we’re missing a member of our team – who happens to be the guardian spirit of fire! – guess who must be the dragon!”

Shiro stared at Lance. “You think Keith is a dragon?” 

“Yes! And the only way to rescue the princess is to slay the dragon except _we can’t slay the dragon!_ ” Lance was freaking out. If Keith was a dragon, how the heck were they going to turn him back?

Pidge adjusted her glasses. “Lance, just because there was a dragon in the movie, doesn’t mean there’s one here. Most versions of Sleeping Beauty don’t have a dragon, just the castle of thorns.”

“Then where’s Keith if he isn’t the dragon?” 

Pidge gave a long-suffering sigh. “Did it ever occur to you that Keith might be the princess?”

Lance stared for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Keith a _princess?_ Pidge, do you know how insane that sounds?!”

Beside him, Hunk was chuckling softly. “Sorry, Pidge, but I’m with Lance on this. Pretty sure no one in their right mind would make Keith a princess.”

“Not if they valued their life anyway,” Shiro added with a grin.

Pidge crossed her arms. “I’m not saying he’d make a good princess, just–”

“Keith would be the worst princess!” Lance declared. “The _worst!_ ”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Then let’s go see who the princess of this castle really is.”

“Not Keith, that’s for sure,” Lance muttered.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at him.

“Um, I have a question,” said Hunk. “How are we supposed to get in?”

“Shiro and Lance have swords,” replied Pidge. “We hack our way in, just like the fairy tale.”

“Awesome,” Lance groaned. That sounded like _work_.

“I’ll go first,” offered Shiro, pulling down the visor of his helmet. I’ll have more protection than you guys in this armour.”

But even with Shiro hacking and slicing at the thorny vines as he led the way, Lance still had a tough time chopping through the thicket. The thorns scraped at his hands and face, leaving tiny scratches that somehow managed to sting like crap.

It took almost twenty minutes to slice a path through the thorns and by the time they reached the castle door, Lance and Shiro were panting hard.

“This princess…had better be…worth it,” Lance huffed, pushing at the door with Shiro.

The door was stiff and creaked open gradually. Once there was enough space for them all to fit through, they stopped pushing. Shiro slipped in first, followed by Lance, then Hunk and finally Pidge.

They found themselves inside a huge entrance hall paved with white marble. Doors lined each wall and candles burned in a cast iron chandelier overhead. A massive stone staircase led to the upper levels of the castle.

Lance whistled. “Very nice.”

“Where do we look for this princess?” Hunk asked.

“The tallest tower,” replied Lance.

They all looked at him. 

“What?” he said. “The princess is always in the tallest tower.”

Shiro shook his head, pushing the visor of the helmet up once more. “Fine, let’s try there first. Then we can look for Keith.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “And if we do run across a dragon, don’t kill it.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” Lance was energized by the possibility of kissing a beautiful princess. “Let’s go save my girl!”

Pidge smirked as they headed for the stairs. “What if it’s Shiro’s girl?”

“Pffft! Shiro’s a knight and the prince always gets the princess.”

“Not always,” Pidge countered, “there are plenty of fairy tales where the knight or commoner gets the girl.”

“Well, in this fairy tale it’s always the prince and _I’m_ the prince!”

“Except you look more like a street rat,” Pidge pointed out. “Not exactly royal material.”

Lance glanced down at himself. His hands were scratched and bleeding, while his fine clothes were torn and dirty after their struggle through the thorny thicket. A quick glance revealed that Hunk looked just as bedraggled as Lance, but Shiro’s armour had held up well and Pidge didn’t have a mark on her.

Little gremlin had probably stayed behind Hunk the whole time.

Pidge shot Lance an evil grin. “Looks like Team Shiro will be more impressive to the princess.”

“No way! This is my princess. I’m going to kiss her, awaken her and we’ll live happily ever after.”

“Sure, Lance,” said Pidge, skipping up the steps ahead of him. “Whatever you say.”

Lance made an outraged sound of protest, while Hunk patted his shoulder soothingly from behind.

“Tallest tower was on the east side of the castle,” said Shiro. “Let’s find a way up.”

It didn’t take long for them to find the steps to the east tower, but it was quite a climb, and Shiro’s armour clanked irritatingly the whole way. They climbed and climbed, and by the time they reached the top, Lance was dizzy from ascending the spiral staircase. Behind him, Hunk was wheezing loudly.

They entered the solitary room at the top of the steps to find a large, four-poster bed at its centre, white muslin draping its posts. Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating a figure in the bed. All dizziness forgotten, Lance hurried forward to see his princess…then stopped dead.

The princess was Keith.

“What the quizneck?!” he shrieked in outrage. “Seriously?!”

“That doesn’t seem right,” mumbled Hunk, while Shiro just stared in shock. Pidge was howling with laughter.

Lance opened and closed his mouth, staring furiously at the sleeping red paladin. He was clothed in a red velvet gown with gold trim and his hands were folded across his chest. His dark hair was splayed across the pillow, while long dark lashes rested against pale cheeks. Coupled with the peaceful, soft expression on his face, Keith looked…really pretty.

Lance jerked. Hell no! He wasn’t having those thoughts now. Reaching forward, he shook Keith’s shoulder. “Wake up, mullet!”

Keith didn’t budge.

“That’s not how it works, Lance,” said Pidge, sniggering. “You have to kiss him, remember?”

“I’m not kissing Keith!”

Pidge gave a wicked grin. “But you said this was _your_ princess. You said you were going to wake the princess with a kiss and live happily ever after.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at her. That little gremlin! She’d _known_ Keith was the princess and had baited Lance into saying those things just so she could torment him. “That was when I thought it was a beautiful princess, not Keith.”

Pidge’s smirk widened. “I don’t know, Lance, he looks pretty good as a princess.”

“You kiss him then!”

“Alright, knock it off,” Shiro interjected. “We need to bring Keith out of…whatever this is.”

“Magic curse,” Lance filled in before he could stop himself.

“Fine, magic curse,” said Shiro. “What do we do?”

“It’s obvious,” said Pidge. “Lance has to kiss him.”

“I am NOT kissing Keith!”

“Okay, but someone has to kiss Keith,” Hunk spoke up. “I mean, that’s what happens in the fairy tale, right? The prince wakes Aurora with a kiss?”

“True love’s kiss,” Pidge added, still with an evil grin.

They all looked at Lance and he spluttered indignantly. “Why are you looking at me?”

“You are the prince,” Hunk pointed out.

“So? That doesn’t mean I have to kiss Keith! I don’t want to kiss Keith!”

“Methinks the prince doth protest too much,” Pidge sing-songed.

“Enough!” said Shiro, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Is there really no other way to do this?”

Pidge shook her head. “Sorry, Shiro. And from the way we’re all dressed, I’m guessing it has to be you or Lance who does it.”

Shiro looked disturbed. “But Keith is like a brother to me.”

“Maybe a familial bond will work?” Hunk offers. “Maybe you only have to, I dunno, kiss him on the forehead or something?”

Shiro sighed, but stepped towards the bed. Frowning, he leaned down and planted a kiss on Keith’s forehead. The red paladin didn’t move.

“Sorry, Shiro,” said Pidge, not looking remotely apologetic, “looks like you’re gonna have to try the lips after all.”

Shiro grimaced before leaning down. 

Something ugly swooped in Lance’s stomach as Shiro kissed Keith, and he was oddly relieved when Keith didn’t respond. 

Until they all turned to look at him again. Lance folded his arms. “Don’t look at me.”

“Lance,” Shiro began, but Lance interrupted. 

“What if it didn’t work because you’re a guy? Maybe it needs to be boy/girl like in the fairy tale, except this time it’s the girl kissing the guy?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Never pegged you for boringly traditional, but whatever.” Without another word, she swooped down and kissed Keith, leaving the male paladins gaping.

“See? No response,” said Pidge, utterly nonchalant. “Even fairy tales are catching on to how stupid gender roles are. Now, are you really gonna make Hunk kiss Keith before you man up, Lance?”

Lance bit his lip. Keith was the most guarded and non-tactile of all the paladins, and it wasn’t fair to keep pawing at him while he was unconscious and helpless to stop them. But they had to wake him and deep down, Lance knew Pidge was right. The prince wakes the princess.

Sighing, Lance unfolded his arms. “Alright.”

Hunk clapped him on the shoulder, relief shining in his eyes. “Thanks, man.”

 _Okay, it’s just one kiss, you can do this,_ thought Lance, ignoring his sweaty palms. Slowly lowering his head, Lance pressed his lips against Keith’s.

They were softer than he expected, and pleasantly warm. A shock of pleasure ran through him and he pulled back just in time to see violet eyes flutter open. It made Lance’s heart beat faster and he smiled down at Keith. “Welcome back, sleeping beauty.”

A fist collided with the side of Lance’s head.

“What the fuck, Lance?!” Keith yelled, as Lance reeled backwards.

“What’s your problem!” Lance screamed.

“My problem?” repeated Keith, jerking to a sitting position. “You _kissed_ me! What are yo– why the hell am I in a dress?!”

“It’s a weird story,” said Shiro, placing a calming hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Literally.”

Keith stared up at their leader. “ _Shiro?_ What are you wearing?”

Shiro shook his head. “I’m a knight. Apparently, we’re trapped inside a fairy tale, but we have no idea how.”

“A fairy tale?” repeated Keith, scepticism colouring his tone.

“Yeah, mullet,” sneered Lance, “a fairy tale. And guess who was cast as the princess?”

Keith looked around at everyone before glancing down at himself. His cheeks bloomed a pretty pink and his eyes widened in horror.

“You’re Sleeping Beauty in case you were wondering,” said Pidge, looking like she was enjoying herself immensely. “And Lance was the prince who had to wake you from an enchanted sleep with true love’s kiss.” 

Keith scowled at Pidge, then glared at Lance. “Why you?”

“I don’t know! But it didn’t work when the others kissed you, so I had to do it.”

“Others?” repeated Keith, narrowing his eyes. “Who else kissed me?”

 _Oooops._ Lance winced when the others glared at him for that little slip up. 

“Keith,” Shiro soothed, “we weren’t trying to–”

“The room’s disappearing!” shouted Hunk suddenly. 

Everyone turned to find the edges of the room rapidly crumbling and darkening into black. The sun was also dimming, and it looked to Lance like this place was vanishing from existence. They all drew closer to the bed as the walls and floors of the tower faded into nothing.

“Pidge! What’s going on?” cried Hunk.

“How am I supposed to know?” she demanded.

“Because you’re the smart one!” Lance yelled. “What happens to us when this place disappears?”

“We vanish too,” said a soft voice behind them, and they turned to find Keith kneeling on the bed, staring at his hands. 

Or rather, staring at where his hands _should_ be. 

Because there was nothing there. Keith’s hands were gone and his arms were rapidly disappearing as well. Even Keith himself seemed to be fading. Large, violet eyes came up to meet theirs and Lance felt something swell in his throat. Keith couldn’t disappear!

He lunged towards the red paladin, grabbing for him just as he vanished completely. 

“Keith!” howled Lance, as the encroaching black swallowed the rest of them.

__________________________________

The next second, Lance was on a galloping horse.

He shrieked, causing the horse to rear up and forcing Lance to clutch the reins tightly and dig his legs into the horse’s side. _Don’t fall off! Don’t fall off!_

When the horse finally put its front hooves back on the ground, Lance congratulated himself on not freaking out. Well, not much anyway.

He took a second to examine his surroundings – another forest, this one dotted with patches of snow. Much to his disgust, Lance was also dressed in another Disneyfied outfit: black leather breeches, black riding boots, black gloves, white shirt inside a blue tunic and a red cloak trimmed with fur. A sword hung in the scabbard at his waist and… Lance reached up to find a hat with another stupid feather in it.

Growling, he snatched it off and flung it into the nearest snowdrift. What was with the lame feathers? Nobody looked cool in feathers!

“Okay, breathe,” Lance told himself, then looked around. No sign of Hunk this time. “HUNK?”

No answer.

“ _HUNK!_ ” 

Silence.

Lance sighed. “Looks like I don’t get a squire this time. But hey, at least I have a horse! Giddy up.”

The horse, now chewing on a few blades of grass poking through the patchy snow, ignored him.

Lance frowned. He didn’t know much about horses, only having been on one once before, but he was pretty sure _giddy up_ was the ‘let’s go’ call for horses everywhere. He tried again. “Giddy up.”

The horse didn’t so much as twitch its tail. 

“Urgh! Come on you stupid thing!”

The horse snorted.

“Please?” Lance begged. “My friends are in trouble. I don’t know what fairy tale this is, but I’m pretty sure I have to rescue them. I mean, I’m the prince, right? Oh man, I hope Keith isn’t the princess again.”

_Even if he did look really pretty._

Lance froze. Did he actually think…no, he couldn’t have! Just the fairy tale messing with his head.

Except those kind of thoughts had been creeping in more and more lately…

 _No!_ Lance shook his head. That was dangerous thoughts territory! No way was he going there. He had to focus on his mission. 

Jerking the horse’s reigns, he pleaded, “Okay, seriously, I don’t know where I’m supposed to go and since you’re here with me, you’re probably supposed to lead me there.”

The horse lifted its tail and peed like a waterfall.

“Nice horsey, best horsey. Please go. There’s a carrot in it for you?”

The horse continued to chew on the measly pieces of grass.

“Giddy up!”

Nada.

“Ahhhh!” Lance wanted to throw himself off the horse, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to get back on again. Why wouldn’t the stupid thing respond to giddy up? Did it not speak English?

He could practically see Keith rolling his eyes and telling him “horses don’t speak, Lance.”

Scowling, Lance thought back to every cowboy movie he’d ever seen, remembering that a lot of cowboys didn’t actually _say_ giddy up. How did they do it? Something with their teeth… Frowning, Lance clicked his teeth together and carefully pressed his legs into the horse’s side. 

The horse immediately took off, galloping though the forest.

“Whoaaaaaaaaa!” he yelled, holding onto the reigns for dear life. “Whoa!”

The horse ignored him, continuing to gallop full speed ahead. Lance was sure the animal was fucking with him at this point. He screamed as the horse jumped over a fallen tree, kicking up snow and dirt as it continued its breakneck pace through the forest.

“Whoa, you stupid thing!” Lance shrieked. Whoa! _Whoa!_ WHOA!”

The horse stopped so abruptly that Lance was pitched forward over its head and landed flat on his back, winded. 

“Ow!” he managed.

Three faces appeared overhead. “Lance, you okay?” came Shiro’s voice, and a hand was held out to him.

Groaning, Lance took it and let Shiro pull him to a standing position. “Ow!” he said again, rubbing his aching back. “That stupid horse is a menace.”

“Oh yeah,” said Pidge drily, watching the horse nuzzle into Hunk, “he’s a real beast.”

“Hey, you weren’t there,” Lance defended himself.

“No, we just heard you shrieking like a banshee the whole way here.” 

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you– is that a beard?” Lance blinked, open-mouthed, at his fellow paladins. All of them, even Pidge, had snow white beards and wore pointed hats. Axes were tucked into the belts on their waists. “Are you gnomes?”

“Dwarfs, Lance,” said Pidge, rolling her eyes. “Now hurry up and kiss Snow White so we can get out of this ice-box.”

“Aren’t there supposed to be seven of you?”

“A dragon ate the other four,” she snarked. “Now for the love of fuck, kiss Snow White so we can get out of here!”

“Well, guess we know which dwarf is Grumpy then– urgh!” Lance grunted as Pidge’s elbow connected with his gut.

“Over there, Lance,” said Pidge, jerking a thumb towards a glass coffin that was sitting on a mound of snow. 

“Fine.” Still rubbing his aching back, Lance moved over to the coffin. “Just please don’t be–” He groaned out loud when he saw Keith inside, clad in a yellow gown this time. “Really?” he said plaintively, turning to Shiro.

Shiro shrugged, not even trying to hide his grin. “Sorry, Lance, but we couldn’t even get the lid off. Pretty sure this one is all you.”

“Dumb mullet better not punch me this time,” Lance muttered, reaching for the coffin and sighing when the lid lifted right up, because _of course_ it did.

Staring down at Keith, Lance had to give it to him – he was rocking the whole Snow White vibe: hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood. He looked almost…ethereal and it kind of took Lance’s breath away.

_Nope! Not going there!_

Lance snapped his brain out of dangerous thoughts territory, swooping down to kiss Keith. Sooner this was over the better. Keith’s lips were cold this time, but Lance still felt a warm rush of pleasure surge through him. It was even more intense than the last kiss, almost electric, freezing Lance in place. He watched Keith suck in a breath and blink open his eyes…

A fist thudded into Lance’s jaw.

“Stop hitting me!” Lance screamed, jerking up.

“Then stop kissing me!” Keith yelled back, hauling himself out of the coffin.

“I’ll stop kissing you when you stop needing to be kissed!”

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

“You don’t make sense!”

“Enough!” Shiro interrupted. “Guys, I know this situation is less than ideal, but we need to work together as a team to figure out what’s going on.”

“And we need to do it fast,” Pidge added, gaze going to the pale winter sun that was rapidly fading into grey. “I think we’re about to disappear again.”

“Okay,” Hunk spoke quickly, “so we’ve been zapped into some fairy tale world where we have to re-enact fairy tales – why?”

“Yeah, what’s the purpose if we’re only going to be zip-a-dee-doo-daed away as soon as we’ve completed the story,” Lance put in, eyeing the darkening edges of the forest with trepidation. “I mean, that’s the point where everybody is supposed to live happily ever after, right?”

“You’re right,” said Pidge, frowning at Lance. “What are you doing wrong?”

Lance puffed out. “Why is it _my_ fault?”

“Well, you and Keith,” corrected Pidge. “You guys have been playing the main characters, the rest of us are just along for the ride.”

“Then whoever’s doing this should pick someone else for the lead roles,” muttered Keith, arms folded in front of him. He looked a little see through, and Lance realized he was fading away with the forest, the first of them to disappear again.

“Um, Keith?” Hunk pointed at him.

Keith glanced down at himself and sighed. “This is really getting old.”

Then the red paladin was gone, leaving the rest of them staring at each other as the darkness closed in.

__________________________________

Lance found himself in a forest again.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” he groaned. “Seriously, what is it with fairy tales and forests? Couldn’t we just go to a nice beach or something instead?”

He was resigned more than irritated to discover that his clothes had changed yet again: still with the stupid breeches and riding boots, but this time he was wearing an all red tunic, and the belt at his waist held a knife instead of a sword.

“At this point, couldn’t we just stop with the clothes swapping?” he said to whoever was doing this. “I feel like I’ve had more costume changes than Cher!”

Nothing but birds twittering.

 _Figures._ Lance sighed. _Time to work out what fairy tale this is._

Turning around, he yelped when he almost face planted into a massive wall. 

Looking up, Lance saw that the wall was actually a tower made of stone. Squinting against the sun, he could just make out a large window at the top, but walking around the tower showed no hint of another entrance. 

Okay, Lance knew this fairy tale. But he was surprised by how quickly it had been revealed to him. It had taken longer to discover what the other fairy tales were. And speaking of others, where was his team?

“Hunk? Shiro? Pidge?” 

No response.

Lance chanced a glance at the tower window and called up tentatively, “Keith?”

Silence. 

Huh. So maybe this time he had to complete the fairy tale by himself? 

A smile spread across Lance’s face at the thought of having a princess all to himself. Standing out a little so he could be seen from the tower window, he put one hand on his heart and held the other out in an extravagant gesture before bowing and calling, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Princesses liked those kind of things, right?

A second later, something crashed into the back of his skull, sending Lance sprawling onto the grass. 

“Ow! What the quizneck?!” he cried, rubbing his aching head. Scowling, he glanced around and spotted a frying pan on the grass. That must have been what hit him and there was only one idiot Lance knew who would throw it.

“What the hell, mullet?” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “I’m here to rescue you; why are you trying to give me a skull fracture?!”

Keith appeared at the window. “I can rescue myself, Lance!”

“Oh, sure, that’s why you’re trapped in a tower!”

Something else came hurtling towards him and Lance dived out of the way to avoid being hit. A lamp smashed into the ground beside him. “Dammit, Keith! This isn’t helping!”

There was no response from Keith.

Lance sighed before calling up, “Look, the others aren’t with me this time, so it’s up to us to complete this stupid tale and go find them. I know it sucks, but can you just…work with me on this? Please?”

“Fine,” said Keith. “What do we do?”

“You throw down your hair and I’ll climb up.”

The snort Keith made could be heard all the way at the bottom of the tower. “Very funny, Lance.”

“No, seriously.” How did Keith not know this? “You have crazy long hair, right?”

It was several seconds before Keith gave a glum, “Yes.”

Lance tried not to snicker. “Then you throw it down to me and I climb up to you. Seriously, that’s the fairy tale.”

“What kind of dumb fairy tale is that?” 

“Rapunzel,” replied Lance, unable to believe that Keith didn’t know this. “How did you not see the movie?”

“Why would I want to see a movie about some girl locked in a tower with stupidly long hair?”

“Because it’s a great movie and you are going to watch it as soon as we– you know what, never mind. Just throw down your hair.”

“Fine. Stand back.” 

Barely two seconds later, a mane of black hair came tumbling down and Lance had to take a moment to digest the fact that Keith Kogane had Rapunzel hair. Oh crap, he hoped he could keep from laughing or else Keith would break his nose!

“Okay, I’m climbing up,” Lance warned. “I’ll try not to hurt you, but don’t drop me, okay?” Gripping chunks of hair in both fists, Lance tested it before starting to pull himself up.

Keith’s hair smelled like mint, which Lance found very distracting. The smell tickled the inside of his nose, teasing him and making him want to bury his nose in the hair and– No! Nope! Veering into bad thoughts territory again. 

Lance swung and planted his feet against the wall so he could walk up as well as pull. Even though this was harder and more dizzying, it allowed him to lean away from Keith’s hair, which stopped the smell of said hair from driving him crazy. 

He was panting by the time he reached the top of the tower, arms and legs shaking from the strain of the climb. He almost slipped off the ledge, but a pale hand shot out and yanked him in through the window, toppling him onto the floor.

“Okay…” Lance panted. “I’m done! Next time…you be…the prince…”

“You want to be the princess now?” The amusement was clear in Keith’s voice.

Lance looked up with a scowl that gave way to open-mouthed astonishment when he caught sight of Keith. The red paladin was in a purple gown that really made his violet eyes stand out. His black hair cascaded down his shoulders, framing his pale face and making him look…

 _Beautiful,_ Lance’s brain supplied.

“What are you staring at?” Keith demanded, scowling.

Lance’s self-preservation instincts kicked in. _Dangerous territory! Abort! Abort!_ Quickly covering his tracks, he smirked at Keith and teased, “Nice hair.”

Keith’s cheeks flushed. And Lance couldn’t help but find it interesting that while most people’s entire faces burned tomato red when embarrassed, Keith cheeks went a pretty pink colour.

“Yeah, well, nice hat,” Keith retorted, crossing his arms.

Lance reached for his head and felt some kind of quilted monstrosity with another goddam feather in it. “How did this not fall off while I was climbing?” Yanking the thing off, Lance threw it out the window. “Okay, seriously, whoever is doing this should be arrested for crimes against fashion!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Lance, focus. How do we get out of here?”

“We climb down using your hair,” replied Lance, getting to his feet.

Keith looked annoyed. “Why didn’t you just tell me that? You didn’t have to risk your neck climbing all the way up here; I could have climbed down!”

“Oh, yeah? How were you gonna do that with your hair still attached to your head, hmm?”

“I…” Keith scowled. “Give me your knife and I’ll hack it off!”

“We can’t just hack it off,” said Lance, gesturing to the hair that flowed down Keith’s back, around the room and out the window. “If we do that, it just becomes a mountain of hair that would be impossible to control. We need to make it into a rope first.”

“We can still do that when its off my head!” Keith retorted, grabbing for Lance’s knife.

Lance stepped back, one hand out. “Whoa, Keith! Cutting it off and trying to make it into a rope would take too long. The quickest and best way to do this is for me to braid your hair, then cut it.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “You can’t be serious.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m great at doing hair.”

“You’re not touching my hair!”

Lance sighed. “Think about it, Keith. You know this way is easier and it will make a more secure rope than if we just hacked your hair off and tried to gather it into a rope. Besides, we don’t need to braid all of it – that would take way too long – just the first couple of feet so we can anchor it to something in the room, and keep it from going everywhere once we’re climbing down.”

Keith gave a noisy exhale of annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine.”

“Great! You pull your hair back up and I’ll see if I can find something to tie it up with.”

Keith went back to the window, while Lance glanced around to discover the room had only two pieces of furniture: a small bed and a cupboard. He felt a spasm of anger at the idea of Keith being trapped in this prison.

Trying not to step on the hair coiled around the floor, Lance went to the cupboard and pulled it open. Inside was a hairbrush and several long, thick ribbons; nothing else. No food, no water, no dishes – well, there had been the frying pan Keith chucked at him, which…weird. But it was obvious that whoever had put Keith in here hadn’t intended for him to be here long. If they were leaving hair accessories to aid in the rope making, they definitely wanted him to escape. He turned to tell Keith about his discovery only for the words to stick in his throat. 

Keith, a mountain of hair in his arms, was picking his way carefully over what remained on the floor, a small, displeased pout on his face. He looked adorable and Lance’s heart stuttered. 

“What do you want me to do?” Keith asked.

“O-over to the bed,” Lance squeaked, trying to reason with himself. _Keith is not adorable! He’s an angry loner who likes fighting._

Keith’s eyes widened. “Why do you want me on the _bed?_ ”

And, crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Lance’s brain was now short-circuiting, trying to go places he didn’t want it to go. Dangerous, bad thoughts territory! Cling-on territory! Zarkon central command territory!

“Lance?” There was tension in Keith’s voice.

Lance swallowed, finally managing to get out, “I…need you to sit down so I can braid your hair.” 

“Oh. Okay.”

Keith made his way over to the bed and dumped the bundle of hair on the floor before sitting down. Crossing his arms, he looked at Lance expectantly. “Well?”

Heart pounding, Lance breathed out and made his way over with the hair accessories. “Whoever put you here definitely wanted you to get out,” he told Keith, relieved when his voice sounded normal. “This stuff was all that was in the cupboard.”

Keith snorted. “This fairy tale is ridiculous. What’s the point of locking someone with crazy long hair in a tower if braiding their hair gets them out?”

“Do you really not know the story of Rapunzel?” asked Lance, starting to organize Keith’s hair in a way that would make braiding easier.

Keith shrugged. “Never really liked fairy tales.”

“How can you not like fairy tales?”

Keith cocked an eyebrow. “Because I’m not a little kid?”

“You don’t have to be a kid to like fairy tales – everybody likes fairy tales! They always have a happy ending.”

“Yeah, but real life doesn’t, Lance.” 

There was something lonely in Keith’s voice that made Lance’s heart hurt. “You don’t believe in happy endings?”

“No, because they were created by fairy tales, which by their very definition are total fiction.”

“Are you saying people can’t ever be happy?” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I said. Fairy tales suggest that everything will be okay once the evil… _whatever_ is defeated and the hero falls in love. But there’s no such thing as happy ever after in real life because bad stuff can still happen.”

It was the longest statement Lance had ever heard from Keith. “But that’s exactly why people like fairy tales, _because_ everyone lives happily ever after. Who wouldn’t want that?”

“It’s not realistic, Lance; it gives people false hope.”

“Wow! Whoever cast you as the princess _really_ didn’t know what they were doing. Since when is hope a bad thing?”

Keith gave an irritated huff. “I didn’t mean… Whatever! Just braid my hair so we can get out of here.”

“And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear you say,” Lance muttered, finishing up sorting the mounds of hair.

Keith scowled at him.

Lance held up the hairbrush. “I’m gonna need to brush your hair so the braid is tight. Are you good with that?”

“Do whatever you need to.”

“Okay. Um…could you maybe sit sideways? I need to get at the back of your head.”

Unfolding his arms, Keith complied, and Lance started to brush his hair. And man was this awkward! Way too intimate and close for comfort. Lance was really glad the rest of their team weren’t here to see this. Pidge would never let him hear the end of it.

Lance stopped brushing and pulled Keith’s hair into a pony tail about four inches below his head – they would need the extra hair when it came to cutting it off. Then he wound two sturdy ribbons around the hair and bound it tightly. That much done, Lance began braiding. He worked quickly, brushing the hair as he braided, and trying not to think about the fact that this was Keith’s hair he was working on. That tactic worked fairly well once he managed to get a rhythm going and could focus on the task at hand.

Then Keith had to ruin his zen by talking. “Where did you learn how to do this?” 

“I’ve got two nieces who have me doing their dolls’ hair with them whenever I babysit. I do theirs sometimes too.” God, Lance missed his family.

“I didn’t know you were an uncle,” said Keith softly.

Lance just shrugged. He’d never talked about his family to Keith because he hadn’t seemed interested.

“What are your nieces’ names?” asked Keith.

Lance paused for a second, brain trying to process that Keith was actually asking about his family, before answering, “Amelia and Sophie. They’re my sister’s kids.”

“Do you have a lot of siblings?”

What the quizneck? Keith was interested in his family? “I’ve got three sisters and a brother. I’m the youngest.”

“That must be…nice?” Keith offered, and Lance realized that he was trying to make conversation in his own, socially-inept way.

It was kind of endearing really.

 _Stop that!_ Lance chastised. Why did his brain have to keep pointing out cute things about Keith?

Gah! Not cute! Keith was annoying, not cute.

“Lance? You okay?” Keith was trying to turn his head to look at Lance.

“Eyes front!” Lance commanded, snapping out of his thoughts. “I can’t do this with you twisting around like that.”

“Sorry. You just went quiet for a while.”

“I was thinking about my family,” said Lance. Which was true. He just wasn’t admitting to thinking about Keith as well.

“Oh.” There was silence for a minute, then Keith said, “You really miss them, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Sometimes…sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get to see them again.”

“You will.”

“Keith–”

“You will.” Keith’s voice was quiet but strong. “Because we’re going to defeat Zarkon and bring down the Galra empire. Then you can go home and tell everyone you saved the universe.”

There was a hint of friendly teasing at the end that filled Lance with warmth. “Yeah, just think of what the babes will say,” he joked back.

Keith’s shoulders immediately tensed and Lance remembered that whoops! He was supposed to be rescuing this babe.

 _Keith is not a babe!_ he reminded himself.

 _Like you really believe that,_ another voice in his head piped up.

Lance grimaced. Damn fairy tales ruining his blissful denial. He needed to get out of this situation before he said or did something he’d regret.

“Okay, that ought to do it,” he said hurriedly, securing the braid with more ribbons. He surveyed his handiwork; more than six feet of Keith’s hair was tightly braided, leaving the ends a more easily contained flow.

Keith got up and looked over his shoulder. “Okay, give me your knife and I’ll cut it off.”

“I’ll do it,” Lance said, pulling out the knife. “We need to make sure there’s a couple of inches above where I tied it off so the hair doesn’t come lose.”

Keith huffed irritably. “Fine.”

“Okay,” said Lance, lifting the knife, “just hold still.” Holding tight to the braid, Lance used the knife to cut Keith’s hair right at the base of his skull. The butchered way Lance was chopping the hair off made him shudder, but Keith didn’t seem to mind.

“There, done,” said Lance, as the knife sliced through the last of the hair. He surveyed Keith and was surprised to see his hair didn’t look all that different to usual. “Wow, so your hair just naturally falls into a mullet, huh?”

Scowling, Keith socked him in the shoulder, then reached up to pat his shorter locks. “That feels better. Man, how does Allura cope with all that hair?”

“Actual princess,” replied Lance, shrugging. “Probably used to it.”

Keith gave him a flat look before eyeing the hair critically. “What do we tie this this to?” 

“Good question.” Lance cast his eyes around the tower and spotted a large, metal hook protruding from the wall just above the window. “That looks like a safe bet.”

“Let’s do this.” Keith snatched the hair from Lance and dragged it over to the window, where he proceeded to tie it around the hook and secure it using the most complicated knot Lance had ever seen.

“Is that really necessary?” demanded Lance, feeling put out. As the prince, shouldn’t he be doing that? 

“You want to fall?”

“No.”

“Then let me work.”

Lance scowled, but conceded that Mr. Survivalist was probably the better person for this particular job. “What kind of knot is that?”

“Constrictor knot,” Keith replied, not looking away from his task. “It’s one of the most secure knot types, and it gets tighter the more you pull on it.”

“Which means it’ll get tighter as we climb down.”

“Exactly.”

“Huh. Nice.”

Keith finished tying up the hair and stepped back. “Who goes first?”

Lance smirked. “Ladies first, of course.”

Keith glared at him. “You know I can kick your ass, right?”

“Please!” scoffed Lance. “I could kick your dainty little ass right out that window, Princess!”

“ _Lance!_ ” There was an edge to Keith’s voice.

The red paladin looked angry and frustrated, and Lance immediately felt bad. Keith had been cast as a princess three times today – that had to suck for someone like Keith. Lance held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Alright, truce. No more jokes.”

Keith relaxed. “So, who goes down first? We can’t go together, it might be too much weight for the hair-rope…thing.”

Lance eyed Keith. “Uh, don’t hit me, buddy, but I’m afraid it’s gotta be you and I’m gonna have to lower you down.”

“What! _Why?_ ”

“Because you’re not going to be able to climb down in that dress.”

Keith looked down at himself and pink dusted his cheeks again. Lance tried not to squirm because dammit, Keith blushing was something he really wanted to see more of.

“I have enough of this fairy tale crap!” Keith snapped. “Lance, give me your knife and I’ll cut the stupid dress off.”

“And what? Go looking for the others naked?” Lance mentally smacked himself when his mind immediately jumped to naked Keith. 

“Don’t be dumb. I’m going to cut the skirt of this thing so its short enough for me to climb down.”

“That’s not how the fairy tale goes; I’m supposed to rescue you!”

“I don’t need rescuing!”

“Well, tough. Because whoever put us here clearly thinks you do.”

“I don’t care what whoever put us here thinks!” Keith shouted. “I’m done with being jerked around like this.”

“You’re not the only one being jerked around! I’ve been shredded by magical thorns, thrown off a horse, climbed like, fifty feet of hair, and I’ve been punched _twice_ by the mullet I was trying to save!”

“I didn’t ask you to save me!”

“It’s not like I asked to be constantly saving your ungrateful ass either, but we’re stuck with this so deal with it!”

They glared at each other, something uneasy prickling beneath Lance’s skin. How did they end up fighting? How do they _always_ end up fighting?

Then he realized the room was getting darker, fading away like before. Lance looked around in shock. “Wait! What’s happening? We didn’t finish the fairy tale.”

“Maybe whoever’s doing this is getting as tired of it as we are?” suggested Keith.

“Then what’s the point of all this?” 

“To keep us trapped? Busy?”

“Whatever it is, I hope we end up back with the others so we can figure it out.” Lance turned back to find an almost see-through Keith and sighed. “Dude, if I have to kiss you again, please don’t hit me.”

“I’m making no promises,” said Keith, right before he vanished.

Glancing at the darkness closing in around him, Lance folded his arms. “Alright, let’s just get this over with.”

__________________________________

The next thing Lance knew, he was in a crowded ballroom.

_Well, at least it’s not a forest this time._

Glancing down, he scowled to find more Disney-tastic clothing: a white, tunic-style jacket with two medals on the front, a blue sash looped over one shoulder, blue trousers with white stripes up the side and black dress shoes. No sword this time and – he patted his head – no hat either. 

“Bout time they got something right,” he muttered.

“Your Highness,” said a voice to his left, and Lance turned to find a bowing man dressed in impeccable coattails. “May I present the Duke of Kerberos, Lord Garret, and Lady Holt.”

His teammates stood just behind the bowing man. Shiro and Hunk were decked out like Lance, except their pants and jackets were black. Hunk wore a gold sash, while Shiro’s was purple and heavily decorated with medals. Pidge was wearing a green ballgown that resembled a giant frou-frou more than a dress, and a scowl that promised murder. 

Lance waved awkwardly at the…butler? “Um, thanks, Jeeves.”

The man’s eyebrow gave a barely perceptible twitch. “Does Your Majesty require anything else?”

Oh, Lance could get used to _this_. “Nope. We’re good here.”

“Very well, Your Majesty.” The man bowed again before leaving. 

Lance turned to his team and smirked. “You may greet your prince, peasants.”

“Pull your head out of your ass, Lance,” Pidge retorted. 

“Language,” Shiro reprimanded.

Pidge ignored him in favour of glaring at Lance. “What fairy tale is this?” 

“How should I know?”

“Because you’ve been cast as the prince, _again!_ So, all of this has something to do with you.”

“You don’t know that,” Lance argued. “It could be something to do with one of you guys. What was the last fairy tale you got caught in?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Ah, hello? Snow White? You were there, remember?”

“Wait! You guys didn’t get another fairy tale?”

“Lance, what are you talking about?” asked Shiro. “We literally just came from the Snow White tale.”

Lance shook his head. “Uh, no. No, we didn’t. Because me and Keith had to–” Lance cut himself off, staring at them with a sinking feeling. “You really didn’t do another fairy tale?”

Hunk shook his head. “Snow White was our last, dude. Why? What fairy tale did you do?”

Lance looked away, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Spit it out, Lance,” said Pidge. “We need to figure out what’s happening here.”

Lance sighed. “Alright, fine. It was Rapunzel.”

A sly grin stretched across Pidge’s face. “Keith was the princess again, wasn’t he?”

 _Dammit._ “Yeah, so?”

“Then this is definitely about you and Keith.” Pidge folded her arms. “Probably has something to do with your massive crush on him.”

“I do NOT have a crush on Keith!” 

“Uh, yeah you do,” said Pidge. “I can practically _smell_ the pine trees whenever you two are in the same room together.”

Lance shot her a disgusted look. “Really, Pidge? Pine trees?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, ‘cause of all the pining.”

“Oh, real funny.”

“Knock it off, you two,” interjected Shiro. “We need a plan to get out of this fairy tale loop. Lance, I’m sorry, but Pidge is right. This has to be about you and Keith.”

“How can it be about me and Keith when he isn’t even here?” objected Lance. “Maybe we’re only being cast in the main roles because we’re the prettiest!”

Pidge pointed a triumphant finger at him. “A-ha! So, you _do_ think Keith is pretty?” 

“That’s not what I meant!” Lance squeaked. 

“That’s exactly what you meant,” said Pidge irritably. “And we’re going to be stuck in these stupid tales unless you admit you have feelings for Keith.”

“I do not have– this isn’t about– he’s not even here, okay?!”

“Um, sorry dude, but yeah he is,” said Hunk, pointing over Lance’s shoulder.

Lance turned to see a furious Keith stalking across the dance floor towards them, practically knocking people out of his way. 

His heart immediately beat faster. Despite being dressed in a ridiculous blue ballgown, Keith looked _really_ good. His dark hair was swept back, while a soft hint of shimmer made those unusual eyes stand out – even the dark glower on his features wasn’t enough to stop several suitors from approaching him.

They got an elbow to the gut for their troubles.

“Uh-oh,” said Hunk. “He’s going to kill everyone, isn’t he?”

“No making fun of him,” Shiro warned. “Am I understood, Pidge? Lance?”

“Hey, I’m not stupid,” said Pidge.

“Me either,” said Lance, trying to smack down the sharp sting of jealousy when an impossibly handsome man approached Keith. He was relieved when the red paladin barely acknowledged the man, shoving him aside as he continued his angry stomp towards them. Even in a rage, Keith was breath-taking.

 _For the love of– STOP WITH THOSE THOUGHTS!_ Lance screamed at himself.

“Who’s doing this?” Keith demanded the instant he reached them. “Who’s screwing with us?”

“We don’t know,” Shiro answered, giving Keith a sympathetic look. “We were just theorizing about what’s causing this.”

“Any ideas?” Keith growled. 

“We’re working on it,” Pidge said. “You wouldn’t happen to know what fairy tale this is?”

Looking ready to murder someone, Keith lifted a hand. He was clutching a pair of glass slippers.

Pidge shot Lance a sly glance. “Cinderella, huh? Aren’t you supposed to be wearing those, Keith?”

“They’re glass, Pidge; nobody wears glass shoes because they hurt!”

“Technically they’re glass slippers.”

“I. Don’t. _Care!_ ” 

“Easy, Keith,” said Shiro soothingly, patting his shoulder. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“Actually, we kind of already have,” said Pidge. “Keith, you need to put the slippers back on and dance with Lance. Then, when the clock strikes midnight, you–”

Keith cut her off by throwing the glass slippers to the floor, shattering them into a dozen pieces.

Several people turned to stare and Lance waved, shooting them all a big smile. “Hi! Hello! We’re all good, nothing to see here.” Then he turned back to Keith and hissed, “Why did you do that? We needed those to complete the fairy tale!” 

“No,” said Keith. “I’m done playing this game. We completed the first two tales only to end up in another, and we didn’t even finish the third tale before ending up here.”

Shiro visibly stiffened. “You didn’t get to finish the third one? Why?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. All I know is I’m done with being jerked around and forced into these ridiculous dresses! Why would _anyone_ cast me as the princess?”

Pidge smirked. “It’s been suggested the reason for that is because you’re our prettiest team member.”

Horror and mortification froze Lance. That was _not_ what he said! 

Keith snorted. “That’s a stupid reason to– wait, what?” His eyes widened. “Who said _that?_ ”

Lance made the most pitiful puppy-dog eyes he was capable of at Pidge, because Keith absolutely could not find out about this!

But Pidge only responded with her patented _I-have-enough-of-your-bullshit_ look before jerking a thumb at Lance. “Your Prince Charming of course, who else?”

Keith’s wide-eyed shock made Lance’s heart sink. “That’s not what I said, Pidge!” he yelled. “I just said that maybe we were being cast in the main roles because we’re the team’s best-looking members.”

“You said _prettiest_ ,” Pidge corrected. 

“Yeah, well, I only said it because you had some insane idea that this was all about me and Keith! Which it isn’t. Tell her, Hunk!”

“Sorry, man, you know I have your back, but I agree with Pidge.”

Lance’s mouth opened, and closed, and opened again. “The…the betrayal, Hunk! How can you do this to me?”

“Lance,” Hunk gave him a pitying look, “you know it makes sense.”

“No, I don’t! I think this is all crazy and insane and–”

The impossibly loud _dong_ of a massive clock chiming interrupted him and Lance stopped speaking. He and the other paladins turned towards Keith just as a second _dong_ sounded.

“That’s your cue,” said Pidge, right before the third _dong_.

Keith folded his arms and scowled. “I’m not going anywhere.” A fourth chime. “Besides, I broke the shoes, remember?”

“Keith,” Shiro began, speaking over the fifth chime, “we could be stuck inside these tales if you don’t play along.”

“Shiro, we already _are_ stuck inside these tales!” Keith shouted over the sixth _dong_. “We completed the fairy tales twice and we still ended up inside another tale.”

“So, what do we do?” Hunk fretted, shaking at the seventh _dong_. And was it just Lance or were those chimes getting louder?

“We need to remember how we ended up here,” said Shiro, wincing at the eighth chime, “before it’s too late.”

“If it’s not about completing the tales, then what is it about?” Lance demanded, scowling as the ninth ring of the bell sounded louder and more urgent than the rest. _Alright, it’s midnight, we get it already!_

Pidge rolled her eyes. “I thought we already established it’s about you and Keith.”

The tenth chime positively boomed and Lance glared at Pidge. “This isn’t about me and Keith!”

DONG! 

“Why not?” demanded Pidge.

“ _Because I don’t want it to be!_ ” screamed Lance.

The twelfth bell stuck and everything instantly went dark.

__________________________________

They ended up back in the ballroom.

Lance stared at his fellow paladins – minus Keith – in surprise. “What’s going on? Why are we doing Cinderella again?”

“Maybe because you and Keith didn’t finish it last time?” Hunk suggested. 

“We didn’t finish Rapunzel either, but we didn’t have to redo that,” Lance replied, frowning. “Why is whoever’s doing this making us redo Cinderella?” 

“This isn’t Cinderella,” Pidge spoke up.

“Pidge, it’s the same ballroom, of course it’s–”

“Then why are we all dressed differently?” she demanded.

They glanced at each other. Lance, Shiro and Hunk were all wearing smart, black suits, with ties that matched the colour of their respective lions. Lance also had a crown for the first time. Pidge was in a green ballgown again, but it was far more modern than the meringue monstrosity she’d been wearing in the previous tale.

“Why are we in normal clothes this time?” wondered Hunk.

“And why were our clothes changed when the ballroom stayed the same?” asked Shiro.

Pidge looked thoughtful. “I have a theory. Lance, was Rapunzel set in a forest?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Thought so. I’m betting whoever’s doing this is using the same set-pieces, just changing up the characters.”

The three male paladins stared at her. “Um, run that by us again, Pidge?” said Hunk.

“The first three fairy tales were set in a forest, probably the same one, then the next two were set in the same ballroom. I’m betting it takes a massive amount of energy to create these magical worlds, and whoever is doing this is trying not to expend too much energy.”

“But why do this at all?” Shiro wondered. “If they have this much power then they could clearly destroy us without the theatrics. Unless they’re toying with us.”

Pidge shook her head. “Whoever they are, they don’t want to hurt us.”

Shiro frowned. “How do you know?”

“Because they’re sticking us into the fairy tale at the point where the happy ending starts, bypassing most of the dangerous bits. And out of all the fairy tales they could have picked, they’ve picked the ones that are considered the most romantic. They could have had us facing giants in Jack and the Beanstalk, or a cannibalistic witch like in Hansel and Gretel, but they didn’t.”

Hunk’s eyes widened. “Pidge is right. If they wanted to hurt us, those would totally have made more sense.”

“Which means,” Pidge looked directly at Lance, “this really is about you and Keith.”

Something slightly panic-stricken bubbled in Lance’s stomach. “No, it isn’t! Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”

“I’m not in denial!” Lance shouted.

“Yes, you are,” retorted Pidge. “And whoever’s doing this is obviously trying to tell you that.”

“Oh, really? Then why do they keep ending the fairy tale before the happy ever after happens?” Lance snapped.

“Because they know the happy ever after won’t happen as long as you two keep fighting.”

Lance blinked. What?

“Pidge,” interjected Shiro, “what are you talking about?”

“Think about how all the fairy tales have ended: in Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, Lance kissed Keith–”

“And then he hit me!” Lance interrupted. “How is that a happy ever after?”

“It’s not,” Pidge answered. “That’s the point. Keith hit you, and you guys wound up fighting. In Cinderella, Keith broke the shoes and flat out refused to go along with the story. And I’m guessing you guys ended up fighting in Rapunzel as well.”

Lance shook his head. “That…that doesn’t mean anything.”

“I’m pretty sure it means you and Keith need to stop fighting and start loving,” said Pidge. “Because the only way we’re getting out of this loop is if you two admit your feelings for each other.”

“I don’t have feelings for Keith!” Lance insisted, ignoring the little voice in his head singing, _liar, liar, pants on fire!_

Pidge snorted. “Oh, please; you’ve been pulling his pigtails since the moment we rescued Shiro from the Garrison. You’re like a child always looking for his attention.”

“I– you take that back!” Lance spluttered. 

“No. Because we’re not getting out of here until you pull that giant wad of denial out of your ass!”

“Language,” chastised Shiro.

“Forget the language. You all know I’m right.” Pidge shot Lance an exasperated look, before turning back to Shiro. “What about Keith?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “What about him?”

“He’s less obvious about his feelings. Has he ever said anything about Lance to you?”

“Pidge, this is Keith we’re talking about. He’s never said _anything_ about feelings to me.”

“I’d say punching me in the face for kissing him makes his feelings clear,” Lance said bitterly.

“Yeah, but Keith’s first reaction when he feels threatened is to punch something,” Hunk pointed out. “And someone kissing him while he’s unconscious probably falls under feeling threatened. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have feelings for you.”

“Pretty sure it does.”

“Lance–”

“No!” Lance cut him off. “Keith does not have feelings for me and I don’t have feelings for him, so this whole thing is completely pointless.”

“Oh my god!” Pidge buried her face in her hands. “How many cheesy fairy tales are we gonna be forced to live through before this oblivious moron admits we’re right?”

“You mean how many are we gonna live through before I prove you wrong!” 

“You are such a–”

“Excuse me, Your Highness?” interrupted a soft voice, and they all turned to find a beautiful girl in a pink ballgown. She curtsied to Lance. “I’m so sorry to intrude, Your Highness, but I wanted to thank you for inviting me to the ball.”

Lance gaped at the vision before him. Long, blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, highlighting burnished skin and high cheekbones. Green eyes peered demurely up through long lashes. She was easily one of the most exquisite creatures Lance had ever laid his eyes on. He snapped his mouth closed and shot her his most winning smile. “Well, _hello_. What’s your name?”

“I am Princess Rona, Your Highness.” She curtsied again.

“Please, call me Lance.” 

A red tint coloured her cheeks and she bowed her head shyly. “If that is what you desire.”

Oh, this was a princess he could get on board with. Lance leaned closer and winked. “Know what else I desire?”

The red in her cheeks darkened. “What, Your Majesty?”

Lance held out his arm. “A dance with the most beautiful woman here.”

She giggled and took his arm.

Lance was about to lead her to the dance floor when someone grabbed his arm. He turned to find Pidge frowning up at him. “What about Keith?”

“What about him? I don’t see him anywhere, which proves that this has nothing to do with him!”

“But we don’t even know what fairy tale–”

Lance shrugged off Pidge’s hand and guided Princess Rona onto the dance floor. Taking one of her hands in his and putting the other on her waist, he drew her close. “Soooo,” he drawled, as they started to dance, “tell me about yourself.”

She cocked her head and a tiny crease appeared between her eyebrows. “I am a Princess.”

“Yes, but tell me about yourself. What do you like?”

“Like?” she repeated, the small crease deepening.

“Yeah, you know, what are your hobbies? What do you like to do?”

“What would you like me to do?”

One of Lance’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, what?”

She batted her eyelashes. “Is there something you would like me to do?” 

Lance shook his head quickly. “No, no! I just want to know about the stuff you like.”

“I like you.” 

“I like you too,” he purred. “But what else do you like? What kind of stuff do you do?”

“Oh. I read, dance, sew, and I can sing.” 

“Cool,” said Lance, catching sight of his team as he twirled past. There was still no sign of Keith, proving Lance was right. He shot them a triumphant smirk and Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Where did you learn to sing?” he asked Princess Rona.

“My Governess taught me.”

“Are you good?”

“I will let Your Highness be the judge of that.”

“It’s Lance, remember?”

“Of course. I’m sorry for forgetting.”

“No, it’s okay. Just…please, call me Lance.”

“Yes, Lance.” She smiled up at him.

He returned the smile, but felt a pang. Princess Rona was beautiful, but a little too docile for his tastes. It was kind of unsettling to realize that he wanted someone who challenged him, someone who kept him on his toes.

As if on cue, a pair of violet eyes, dark hair and an irritated scowl flashed through his brain – everything in complete contrast to this princess. Lance smacked the vision down. Now was not the time to be thinking about Keith.

He tightened his hold on Rona’s waist. “Tell me about your family.”

“My mother is Queen Zania and my father is King Igor of Tourney-by-the-sea. I am an only child.”

Lance waited expectantly for more details, but apparently the princess was finished. He sighed. Man, she might be as quiet as Keith, but she was infinitely less interesting.

Crap! Did he just think Keith was more interesting than a beautiful princess? 

Lance groaned inwardly. Those thoughts were seriously getting out of hand.

As they whirled across the dancefloor, Lance suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure. His heart thudded and he nearly stepped on Princess Rona’s feet trying to get a clearer look.

“Whoops, sorry, Princess,” he said distractedly, craning his neck. He waltzed them nearer to the edge of the dance floor and discovered the figure to be exactly who he suspected.

Keith. 

Something stuck in Lance’s throat as he watched Keith stalk towards the other paladins. He wasn’t in a dress this time. Instead he was wearing a sleek, black tuxedo, its nice lines showing off his slender shape. The tuxedo had a streamlined hood, which Keith wore pulled over his head. The inside of the hood was lined with red silk, matching the red tie he wore.

He looked spectacular. 

Lance’s cheeks burned and he swallowed. Hard. This was the Keith he knew: fierce, agile, strong – not some damsel in distress! Keith might be ridiculously pretty, but his most attractive qualities were his strength, his fire, his snarky tongue, his dumb mullet, and everything that made him uniquely _Keith_. Lance was kinda disappointed that Keith wasn’t his princess this time.

Keith’s pretty violet eyes met his and Lance smiled. Maybe…maybe it was time to admit there was something between them?

Then Keith’s gaze flicked to Princess Rona. His eyes narrowed and he shot Lance an irritated glare, before continuing towards the rest of the paladins.

Lance felt like someone had doused his insides with ice-cold water. Was Keith really that repulsed by him? Was it honestly so unbearable to imagine that someone would want to be with Lance? Well, fine! He didn’t want a stupid mullet anyway!

Trying to ignore the hurt chewing at the edges of his heart, Lance practically stomped across the dance floor with Princess Rona, away from Keith. 

“Is everything all right, Lance?” asked Princess Rona.

“Everything’s fine. Totally peachy.” Even Lance could hear how high-pitched his voice was.

“Are you sure? You were watching that boy with the lovely eyes very closely…”

Lance made a strangled sound. “He does not have lovely eyes. They’re average. Totally average.”

“Really? I thought they were beautiful. I have never seen eyes that colour before.”

 _Neither have I,_ thought Lance, before grinding his teeth. _Dammit!_

He forced himself to smile down at Princess Rona. “You know who has lovely eyes? You. They’re like…” A picture of midnight velvet eyes flashed across his brain and Lance ruthlessly quashed it. “Like a beautiful pool of green algae.” 

_What the fuck, Lance?_

“Oh, thank you.” The Princess blushed. “It’s so kind of you to compliment me.”

Lance was baffled. He was pretty sure it was insulting to be compared to algae; why was she taking it as a compliment? If it weren’t for Allura, he’d be starting to think princesses were a little dim right about now.

“I think you have beautiful eyes too,” she whispered. “They’re like the ocean.”

Lance preened under the compliment, before shooting a glare Keith’s direction. See? Someone appreciated him! He spotted Shiro and Pidge talking at Keith, their hands waving furiously.

 _Don’t waste your breath, guys, he doesn’t care,_ thought Lance bitterly. 

“Lance?”

“Mmmmm?” he said, returning his attention to Princess Rona.

She was blushing up at him. “I hope I am not being too forward but…I feel something special between us.”

Lance gave her a megawatt smile and leaned closer. “Me too, Princess. I think this is the start of a beautiful future together.”

“Really? Oh, Lance, I was hoping you would say that.” She tilted her head expectantly and closed her eyes.

Lance blinked, momentarily taken aback, before something ugly reared in his chest. _An actual princess wants me, so screw you, Keith!_

Swooping down, he kissed Princess Rona. The kiss was nice: gentle, sweet, chaste. Pretty much everything one would expect from a princess. Except…

Lance couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Where was the spark? This felt like nearly every other kiss he’d ever had; shouldn’t kissing a princess feel different? Kissing Keith had definitely felt different, electric even.

Lance jerked back, breaking the kiss. _Stop thinking about Keith!_

“Oh, Lance,” whispered Princess Rona, eyes slightly glazed. “I’m so happy that we’re together.”

Lance smiled, despite the empty pit in his stomach. “Me too.”

“I will always make you happy,” she declared.

“Uh, yeah, me too,” Lance responded awkwardly. This was getting weird.

“You will always make me happy?” 

“Ah…sure. Anything for my princess.” Should he be saying that? This wasn’t permanent, was it? Just a fairy tale, right?

“My prince,” sighed Princess Rona, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. 

Lance kissed back. It was the polite thing to do. Plus, he could now cross kissing a princess off his ‘to do’ list. He was even getting a little into the kiss when suddenly, a hand jerked him away from Princess Rona.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?” a voice yelled.

Blinking at the rude interruption, it took a few seconds for Lance to realize Pidge was clinging to his arm, a look of distress on her face. “What the heck, Pidge? Can’t you see I’m bus–”

“I don’t care!” she snapped, a definite edge of panic to her voice. “Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid like declare your love to this princess?”

Lance huffed. “Of course I didn’t! We only just met.”

Beside him, a voice gasped. “But you made a vow to always make me happy!”

“What? No, I didn’t!” He looked between Princess Rona’s teary face and Pidge’s stricken one. “Did I?”

Pidge groaned. “Lance, you _idiot!_ ” 

“What! What did I do?” 

“This tale is The Little Mermaid,” said Pidge in a choked voice, “and you just declared your feelings to another princess.”

“So? Why is that– wait!” Lance stepped away from Rona, eyeing her cautiously. “Are you a sea witch in disguise?”

Rona burst into tears. “I’m not a witch!”

“Sorry." Lance grimaced before turning back to Pidge. “Why are you freaking out? I kissed another princess, big deal. Eric was gonna marry the sea witch until Ariel–”

“That was the freaking movie, Lance!” Pidge practically screamed. “In the original tale, the little mermaid _died_ when the prince declared his love for another!”

Lance blinked. Died? But that means…

Something painful caught in his throat. 

“Keith,” he whispered, panic slamming into him. He broke into a run, heading for where he’d left the other paladins. 

A crowd of people had gathered around them and Lance had to shove his way to the front. Murmurs of ‘how awful’ and ‘simply dreadful’ reached his ears, causing his heart to pound. When he finally pushed through the knot of people, Lance found Shiro kneeling on the floor, cradling a gasping, shaking Keith against him. The red paladin was the colour of death, a thin stream of blood visible at the corner of his mouth. 

“No,” Lance croaked. “No, no, no, no, no!”

“We figured out the fairy tale once we realized Keith couldn’t speak,” said Pidge in a bleak voice, appearing beside Lance. “But it wasn’t until Keith collapsed that we…” She swallowed, then added in a shaking voice, “Hunk’s looking for a doctor, but I don’t know if anyone can help.”

“Someone has to help,” said Lance, the panic in his chest making it hard to breathe. “Someone _has_ to be able to help!”

Keith coughed suddenly, causing blood to spurt from his mouth, and terror tore Lance apart. This wasn’t– this couldn’t be happening!

Except it was. They were trapped in this fairy tale with no way of getting back to the castle, or even stopping the stupid loop.

A sudden thought occurred to Lance and he gripped Pidge’s shoulder. “Maybe it’ll be okay, Pidge. What if we just end up in another tale when this one ends? I mean, you said whoever was doing this didn’t want to hurt us, right?”

“This is different. None of us were hurt in the other fairy tales and this one traditionally doesn’t have a happy ending. Lance, no amount of magic can bring someone back from the dead.” Her face was pale and she shook her head. “You have to tell Keith how you feel; it might be the only way to save him!”

“I…I can’t.” Keith would hate him if he knew how Lance really felt.

Then Keith coughed again, sending more blood spurting from his mouth, before convulsing in Shiro’s arms.

“Shiro!” Hunk cried, pushing his way out from between the crowd. “Nobody here knows what a doctor is! I even used the term healer because I thought, you know, maybe fairy tales have different terms, but no one had a clue what I was talking about! What are we gonna do, Shiro? _What are we gonna do?!_ ”

Lance thought he was going to faint right there on the spot. No one could help? Keith was going to _die?_

His legs went from under him and Lance dropped to the floor, landing hard on his knees. Shiro’s gaze met his, and the fear on their leader’s face decimated the last of Lance’s self-control – even Shiro didn’t know what to do! Keith was dying and there was nothing they could do! Cold terror wound its way around Lance and squeezed, making his breathing stutter. The idea of losing Keith…

It was more than he could bear.

Tears welled in Lance’s eyes, grief shredding apart his very soul. It was shocking to realize how much Keith meant to him.

Keith coughed again, spraying Shiro’s chest with blood, and suddenly the fear of losing Keith swallowed the fear of being rejected by Keith. Lance shuffled forward until he was kneeling beside Keith. Taking one of Keith’s hands in his, Lance squeezed it gently.

Violet eyes, tinted with pain, squinted up at him.

“Don’t die,” Lance whispered. “Please don’t die.” 

Keith opened his mouth as if to say something, but coughed instead. Blood splattered Lance’s chest and a desperate sob was wrung from him. He couldn’t lose Keith!

Lance leaned his head lightly against Keith’s forehead. “You can’t die. It turns out princesses sort of suck man, okay? Too prissy and kinda dull. That’s not what I want. I want…I want you.”

Keith’s eyes were wide, and he made a choked sound before lifting a shaking hand to touch one of Lance’s cheeks. He gave Lance one of his tiny, shy smiles and Lance’s heart damn near exploded. He put his arms around Keith, pulling him away from Shiro and against his own chest. 

“We’re such idiots,” Lance whispered, burying his nose in Keith’s hair and inhaling the smell of mint. “All this time and we could’ve–” Lance choked and tightened his arms around Keith. He could feel the red paladin’s trembling slowing and hear his gasping fading, and swallowed. Lance knew what that meant. 

Pressing his lips against Keith’s forehead, it felt like his heart was going to tear its way out of his chest, like he was literally losing a part of himself. “Don’t die,” Lance mumbled again. “I can’t…I _need_ you, okay?”

Keith’s eyes were glazed and drooping, but he still managed to squeeze Lance’s hand and nuzzle against his chest. Tears slid down Lance’s cheeks, landing in Keith’s hair.

“Mullet, if you die, I swear to god I’ll bring you back to life and kick your ass!”

Keith made a noise that might have been laughter. Then he stiffened in Lance’s arms before going limp.

“Keith?” Lance dipped his head down to discover the red paladin’s eyes were closed. Lance shook him slightly. “Keith?”

There was no response. Lance laid a hand against Keith’s chest, waiting…

But it was completely still.

Lance’s heart shattered. “Nooooo,” he moaned, squeezing Keith tightly and burying his face in his hair. Rocking himself and Keith, Lance choked out, “You can’t do this…I told him how I felt…please don’t take him away…please…”

Nothing happened.

“Please,” Lance begged, pain squeezing his chest like a vice. “I think…I think I might be falling in love with him…”

“FINALLY!” a voice yelled.

Instantly, Keith vanished from Lance’s arms and darkness swirled around him. He had a brief, confusing moment of panic, relief, terror and hope, before the black devoured him completely.

__________________________________

Lance’s eyes were wet when they blinked open to stare at a stony sky. He was flat on his back, fear and panic still coursing through him.

“Keith!” he yelled, jerking to a sitting position.

He was back in his paladin armour, minus his helmet, which lay on the ground beside him. The rest of his team were scattered around him – also sans helmets – and the lions stood just a few feet away. Shiro and Pidge were both sitting up and looking around, while Hunk was groaning and rolling over. Keith was lying a few feet away, completely still.

“KEITH!” Lance scrambled to his feet and dashed over to the red paladin. Dropping beside Keith, he pulled him hurriedly into his arms. “Keith? _Keith?_ ” he cried, heart hammering madly. _Please, please be alright!_

“He’s fine,” came an unfamiliar voice. “It’s just taking his body longer to wake up after the shock of dying in the mindscape.”

Lance’s eyes widened when he caught sight of a pale green creature shaped like a person, but no bigger than a child, sitting cross-legged on a boulder. It had brown twigs for hair and red feathers for eyebrows, and its teeth were pointed. Wearing a toga made entirely of dark green leaves, its sex was impossible to determine.

“Who are you?” Shiro demanded, getting to his feet and activating his Galra arm. Pidge and Hunk quickly joined him, pulling their bayards out.

“Put those away,” said the green creature, slipping off the boulder. “You already know I don’t want to hurt you.”

The paladins remained in their defensive positions.

“Who are you?” Shiro demanded again.

“You probably couldn’t pronounce my name, so just call me Kysha. And put away your weapons; they wouldn’t even tickle me.”

Still the paladins kept their guard up.

Kysha shook its head. “Wow. You humans sure are stubborn. No wonder it took you so long to get results in the mindscape. Duly noted for next time.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “You? You did that to us?”

Kysha rolled its eyes. “Duh! Who else?”

“You almost killed Keith!” Shiro growled, raising his arm higher.

“Oh, please,” Kysha waved a hand, “he was never in any real danger.”

“He was bleeding internally!” Lance screeched, fury at this thing’s attitude burning him up. “It _hurt_ him!”

Kysha shrugged. “He’s not much of an actor. You’d never have believed he was dying if I didn’t do that.”

“Why would you even need us to believe that?” Lance cried, holding Keith tighter against him. 

“Not them, you,” Kysha said, pointing at Lance. “None of the romantic stories were making you admit your feelings, so I needed to make you desperate enough to let go of your fear.”

“I _knew_ this was about Lance and Keith!” Pidge exclaimed.

Kysha shot her a pleased smile. “Yes. You’re very smart and your team should listen to you more often.”

Pidge’s smirk was unbearably smug. 

“Why would a creature like you go to all this trouble just to get Lance to admit his feelings for Keith?” asked Shiro suspiciously.

“Oh, not just Lance – Keith too,” said Kysha, disappearing from its spot by the boulder and reappearing beside Shiro, who jerked his arm warningly. Kysha ignored the arm, instead waving its own hands about. “And you’re right; it was trouble. _So_ much trouble. But I couldn’t not do it! I mean, do you know how _rare_ bondeds are?”

“Bondeds?” asked Shiro, looking confused, his Galra arm wavering a little.

“Not to talk of a bonded pair actually finding each other,” Kysha continued, ignoring the question. “I’m almost five hundred years old and this is the first time I’ve even seen a bonded pair together. And the idiots were fighting, _fighting_ with each other!”

Pidge snorted. “They’re always fighting with each other.”

“I know!” said Kysha in clear indignation. “Why do you think I got involved?”

Shiro lowered his Galra arm slightly. “Okay, you’re going to have to explain what bondeds are.”

“Them!” cried Kysha, waving a hand towards Lance and Keith. “ _They’re_ bondeds.”

“What does that even mean?” demanded Lance, totally done with this creature’s half answers.

“It means your souls are the same…or created from the same energy at least.”

“We’re not the same!” objected Lance. “I’m unique, totally unique!”

“Yes, Lance, you are a special snowflake,” responded Pidge drily.

“Oh, but he is,” said Kysha. “That’s the point. Soul energy between two souls is nearly always different, so souls can’t sense each other. But in bondeds, that energy is the same so there’s a connection stronger than anything most beings will ever get to experience.”

“So, Lance and Keith are…soulmates?” asked Shiro.

Kysha made a face. “That’s a human definition that doesn’t even come close to explaining bondeds. Besides, you earthlings think nearly everyone has a soulmate and like I said, bondeds are rare. Probably one of the rarest things in the universe.”

By now, the paladins had completely lowered their weapons and Hunk was beaming at Kysha. “You did all this to help Lance and Keith realize they were in love? That’s adorable.”

Kysha quirked a feathered eyebrow. “Did you not hear what I said about bondeds? Incredibly rare, especially together? Those two morons didn’t give me any choice but to get involved!”

“Hey!” spluttered Lance.

“You were fighting!” Kysha jabbed a finger towards him. “Who in the wide universe ever heard of a pair of bondeds _fighting?_ ”

“You could have just told us instead of screwing with us,” Lance muttered, the pain of thinking Keith was dead still too horribly near.

Kysha shrugged. “Wouldn’t have worked. You two are impossibly stubborn; figuring it out for yourselves was the only way.”

Keith chose that moment to groan and shift in Lance’s arms.

“Keith!” exclaimed Lance and Shiro at the same time. Lance also became very aware of the fact that he was _cradling Keith._

“Keith, you okay?” asked Shiro anxiously, crouching beside them.

Keith groaned again, eyes fluttering open. “Shiro?” he rasped.

Yeah, buddy. How’re you feeling?”

“Like somebody stabbed me,” mumbled Keith, one hand coming up to rub at his chest.

“It’s residual, it’ll fade,” Kysha said dismissively, when Shiro and Lance shot it angry looks.

Keith just squinted in confusion at Kysha before his gaze landed on Lance. Immediately, the red paladin’s cheeks went that familiar, adorable pink, and he jerked to a sitting position, his head almost colliding with Lance’s. “Wha…Lance? Why are you–”

“He’s cradling you in his arms because he nearly had heart failure when he thought you were dead,” Pidge told him bluntly. “It took five fairy tales and a fake death, but he finally admitted his feelings.”

Keith’s cheeks went an even darker pink and Lance felt his own face burn.

“But how…” Keith’s eyes narrowed on Kysha. “It was you!” He scrambled to his feet, pulling out his bayard. But he was barely upright when he toppled forward, Lance and Shiro catching him before he hit the ground.

Kysha tutted. “Such a hothead. You _died_ in the mindscape! It’s going to take your body an hour or two to adjust, so just take it easy, okay?”

Keith’s glare intensified. “Why did you screw with us?”

“I didn’t. Everything I did was to help.”

“Help?” repeated Keith, glaring murderously at it. “You made me play a fucking princess!”

“Had to,” said Kysha nonchalantly, examining its rather long and spindly nails. “According to your human fairy tales, the prince admits his feelings for the princess first, usually after he rescues her, and Lance had to be the one to admit his feelings first.”

There was a moment of silence before Pidge asked, “Why?”

“Because Lance was the one in denial about his feelings,” explained Kysha. “Keith knew how he felt, but he was never going to say anything as long as he thought Lance was strictly a ladies’ man. He’s not, by the way,” Kysha added to Keith. “Lance is equal opportunities.”

“OKAY,” said Lance, his face practically on fire. This had to be one of the most humiliating moments of his life. He didn’t dare look at Keith. “How do you even know all this stuff about us anyway?!”

“Absorbed all the info from your brains as soon as you landed,” replied Kysha cheerfully. “How do you think I knew so much about earth fairy tales? Or that I can speak your language so perfectly?”

“You…absorbed information from our brains?” said Shiro faintly. 

“Yup. Part of a Shrukle’s magic is mind reading and absorption. It’s a pretty handy skill.”

“I take it you’re a Shrukle then?” asked Pidge.

Kysha nodded. 

“Huh. Fascinating.”

Keith was still glaring at Kysha. “That still doesn’t explain why you did all this to us.”

“Actually, I did explain. You were just out cold being cradled by your prince.”

Keith bared his teeth in a snarl. 

“Oh, relax,” huffed Kysha. “I know you’re upset about the princess thing, but I stopped putting you in dresses once I realized how much it bothered you. Besides, you’re an exceptionally pretty male and you did look lovely as a princess. Lance definitely thought so – you should have heard his thoughts.”

Pidge howled with laughter, while Lance buried his head in his hands. Someone kill him now.

“Lance, how can you still be embarrassed after everything I told you?” cried Kysha indignantly. “You two are bondeds. That’s something to be proud of, not embarrassed about.”

“What are bondeds?” asked Keith. 

Lance peaked at him through his fingers and felt hope bloom. Keith looked curious, but not freaked out.

“Your team will fill you in,” Kysha said. “I’m not explaining it all again. Besides, I’d like to get back to my vacation that was so rudely interrupted when you all landed here.”

“Vacation?” repeated Hunk.

“Yes. Do you know how hard it is to be a creature who can sense every single thought and feeling around it? Exhausting, that’s what it is.”

“Then why come here?” asked Pidge, looking around at the barren, rocky planet.

Kysha shrugged. “Because it’s peaceful. No sentient life anywhere, not even an amoeba. I just didn’t think of that damn distress beacon actually signalling to someone.”

“The distress beacon!” cried Shiro. “What–”

“Years old,” interrupted Kysha. “The people who activated it were rescued long ago.”

Shiro sighed. “So we landed here for nothing.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say for nothing,” said Kysha. “Not every day you discover there are a pair of bondeds on your team, is it?”

“I guess not,” said Shiro, giving Lance and Keith what could only be described as an amused smile. Lance felt his face burn again. 

“Anyway, it was nice meeting you all,” said Kysha, now floating slowly upwards. “But please don’t come back; I need a vacation after this. You two,” it pointed at Lance and Keith, “no more hiding your feelings from each other. You’re supposed to be happy together. And no more fighting!”

“I’m pretty sure fighting is their default,” Pidge put in. “Doesn’t mean they don’t care about each other, just their weird way of showing it.”

“Insane is what it is. But just so long as they’re together. Ta-ta now.” And with that, Kysha disappeared.

There were a few moments of awkward silence during which Lance and Keith tried to look at anyone but each other. Finally, Keith coughed awkwardly and said, “Is…is anyone going to tell me what bondeds are?”

Pidge answered when Lance continued to stare determinedly at the ground. “Bondeds are souls that are created from the same energy. They’re really rare because most souls are made from different energy, and a pair together are even rarer. According to Kysha, a bonded pair will feel more connected than anything most beings ever get to experience.”

Lance chanced another glance at Keith, who still looked curious. “So, they’re…what? Soulmates?”

Pidge shook her head. “Apparently, soulmate is an earth term that is far too common to cover what you guys are.” She shot Keith a sly smile. “Ultimate fairy tale it seems.”

Keith’s face bloomed a spectacular pink that made Lance want to kiss him. He was about to squash the feeling when it occurred to him that hey, it was totally okay for him to be having those feelings – Keith was his _bonded!_ Heck, Keith was likely having the same feelings about him!

Lance smirked. Knowing his feelings were reciprocated made it a _lot_ easier to flirt. “Hey, Keith, are you from outer space because–”

Keith cut him off with a flat, “Don’t even think about it.”

“Spoilsport.” Lance pouted. “You’re my bonded; I’m allowed to hit on you.”

“Not with those lines you’re not.”

Lance beamed at Keith’s annoyed expression. There was his red paladin: grumpy, take-no-crap, adorable Keith. And Lance wouldn’t change him for anything.

“Urgh,” said Pidge. “Am I going to have to look at Lance’s mooning expression every day from now on? Because if so I request that someone kill me now.”

Lance smirked. “Jealous, Pidge?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “More like worried about the disturbing images I’m going to be subjected to.”

“No!” Shiro said loudly when Lance opened his mouth. “We’re not doing this. No more arguing; it’s been a long day. We are going to take the lions and go back to the castle. We can figure out what this bonded stuff means for Voltron later.”

“Good things, Shiro,” Lance assured him. “Only good things.”

Shiro gave a fond, if slightly exasperated, snort before turning to Keith. “Can you stand?”

The red paladin nodded from where he was still kneeling, Shiro and Lance on either side of him. He got shakily to his feet, but stumbled again. Shiro and Lance grabbed him, steadying him.

“Keeeeith…” said Shiro warningly, raising an eyebrow.

He huffed. “Alright, fine. I’m a little dizzy.”

“Yeah, you’re not flying Red back,” said Shiro at once. “I’ll take Red and you can fly with Lance. You two need to talk some stuff out anyway.”

The pink spread across Keith’s cheeks again, and Lance immediately started to plot ways of making that happen more often. Blushing Keith was too cute for words.

“See you both back at the ship,” said Shiro, giving them a knowing grin that made Keith blush harder. 

Lance just beamed at Shiro because their leader was awesome. Totally awesome.

The rest of the paladins collected their helmets and headed for their lions, leaving Lance holding onto a slightly wobbly Keith. After the lions took off, he leered at Keith. “Sooooo…”

Keith punched his shoulder. “Stop looking at me like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like that!”

Lance waggled his eyebrows. “How do you want me to look at you?”

“Like normal.”

“Keith, we’re bondeds; this _is_ the new normal.”

Keith groaned. Pink was still dusting his cheeks, and his brows were pulled down in a familiar frown. 

Lance thought he’d never looked more perfect. 

More importantly, he was alive and safe and _here_. Lance raised a hand to cup Keith’s cheek. “Hey. I just want you to know…I’m really happy you’re okay.”

Keith’s frown disappeared as his eyes widened. Blinking, he stared up at Lance – and man, Lance loved those extra two inches of height he had on Keith! He was already plotting ways to take advantage of that.

“So…uh…” Keith’s cheeks were practically magenta. “You really feel…that way about me?”

His awkwardness was beyond endearing and Lance felt himself melt. He responded by leaning down and kissing Keith.

And, _oh!_ What a kiss: warm and soft and perfect. Lance moved his arm from Keith’s elbow to wrap around his waist, pulling the red paladin closer. His other hand slid into Keith’s hair, tipping his head back so Lance could deepen the kiss. And then…

Fireworks. Literal fireworks.

Joy fizzed in Lance’s stomach like the popping of a champagne cork, making him feel like his heart was exploding with happiness. Something electric thrilled through his veins, sending sparks of pleasure tingling through him. It was like nothing Lance had ever experienced before. _This_ was magic. He felt like he could do it forever. Keith’s hands patted tentatively at his sides, before slowly wrapping around him. Lance responded by pulling Keith so tightly against him it kinda hurt. But Lance didn’t care; he never wanted to let Keith go. 

Finally, gasping for air, they pulled back. Keith’s hair was mussed and his eyes were a little glazed. Lance gave a huff of breathless laughter before leaning his forehead against Keith’s. “Now…that’s what…I call…a kiss.”

Keith made a small, unintelligible sound that had Lance swooping down to kiss him again. The kiss was harder this time, more frantic, and damn if it didn’t make Lance want to _do_ things! Things that required a door and a lock. He squeezed Keith to him for all he was worth, and the red paladin released a small moan, breath puffing against Lance’s lips.

The second time they stopped, they were so breathless neither of them could speak. So, they just stood there, panting and holding each other close, foreheads pressed together. A warm feeling of contentment and peace curled around Lance, and he buried his nose in Keith’s hair. How had he never noticed how _soft_ Keith’s hair was before? Stroking Keith’s back, Lance realized the red paladin was trembling ever so slightly. He frowned, remembering that Keith was weakened after dying in the mindscape. He pulled back a little. “Okay, we need to get you back to the castle so you can lie down.”

Keith crinkled his nose. “What?”

Wide-eyed confusion was a good look for Keith. It gave Lance warm fuzzies and he stroked a finger down Keith’s cheek. He was so gone for this guy. “You need to rest after everything that’s happened.”

“I’m fine.”

“Uh, dying in the mindscape? Not fine. The opposite of fine. Terrifying actually.”

“I’m telling you, I feel fine, Lance.”

“Nu-uh, I will be the judge of that once we get you back to the castle.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Alright, fine.”

“Cool.” Lance swooped down and grabbed their helmets off the ground. After they put them on, he slid an arm around Keith’s waist. “Let’s get you back to the castle, babe.”

“Babe?” repeated Keith incredulously.

“Do you prefer sweetheart?”

“Lance, _no_.”

“Darling?”

“Have you lost your mind?!”

“Pookie?”

“What the actual fuck, Lance?”

“Pumpkin, you’re gonna have to pick something, because buddy’s just not gonna fly anymore.”

“Can’t you just call me Keith? You know, my _name?_ ”

Lance was scandalized. “I’m not calling my number one guy by his name! People need to know we’re together, Chickpea.”

“Okay, seriously, where the hell are you getting these names?!”

“I could go all day, Cupcake.”

“Please don’t.”

“No, seriously, I’ve got a million of these…Gum-drop.”

“OKAY.” Keith shot Lance an exasperated look. “Let’s just…let’s just got with babe, alright?”

Lance smiled triumphantly and pulled Keith against him. “Sure thing, Babe. Whatever you want.”

Keith’s grumpy cat look made Lance want to kiss him again, but their helmets were in the way. So, he made do with intertwining their fingers and leading Keith towards the blue lion. The sooner he got Keith back to the castle the sooner they could take their helmets off, and the sooner he could kiss Keith again.

Because Lance was pretty sure he could spend the rest of his life kissing Keith and never get tired of it. 

As the headed up the ramp together, Lance stole a glance at Keith and found the red paladin watching him. When their eyes met, Keith smiled like the sun, making Lance’s head spin. He’d never seen Keith smile like that before.

Yeah, he was _definitely_ sure he’d never get tired of kissing Keith. Or wanting Keith. Or just being around Keith.

Squeezing Keith’s hand, Lance beamed back at him. “C’mon, babe. Let’s go home.”

The End


End file.
